Teenage Canino misses flight for Asian Zonals on lack of DSWD minor clearance

TEENAGE CHESS sensation Ruelle Canino on Tuesday sought help from the government to facilitate the release of her Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) clearance for minors like her to be able to compete in the Asian Zonals in Mongolia.

The 16-year-old Ms. Canino, the reigning national women’s champion and a member of the Philippine team that snared a historic category B gold medal in last year’s Budapest Olympiad, told The STAR on Tuesday that she missed her morning flight because of the absence of this particular document from DSWD needed for minors traveling abroad.

The delay was reportedly caused by the newly implemented digitization of DSWD’s system.

“My flight was supposed to be 8 a.m. this morning but I wasn’t able to come anymore,” said Ms. Canino. “We tried to plead with the immigration but I wasn’t allowed.”

Due to this, the lean but mean delegation of Grandmaster (GM) Daniel Quizon, Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna and International Master Paulo Bersamina, who recently finished a strong second in the just concluded Bangkok Open, with National Chess Federation of the Philippines Chief Executive Officer GM Jayson Gonzales as head of delegation, was forced to leave Ms. Canino behind.

The Zonals, which stakes slots to the World Cup, is scheduled to start on Wednesday.

Ms. Canino though isn’t losing hope.

“I will wait,” she said.

Ms. Frayna, one of Ms. Canino’s coaches, wasn’t happy with the delay.

“Digitization usually should make the process faster, but why is this happening,” she said. — Joey Villar